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Fiorentino Responds To Elections Complaint

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

Updated: 01/23/2008 09:34 pm

LAND O' LAKES - Schools Superintendent Heather Fiorentino said Wednesday that an elections complaint filed against her by the West Pasco Board of Realtors is off-base.

Greg Armstrong, president of the Realtors group, filed the complaint Tuesday with the Florida Elections Commission, alleging that Fiorentino used school district e-mail to try to persuade school employees to vote against a property tax amendment on next week's ballot.

"I have never told anyone how to vote," Fiorentino said.

The e-mail in question was not sent by Fiorentino, but by Assistant Superintendent Renalia DuBose. Fiorentino said the Pasco County School District created a DVD for employees with a PowerPoint presentation about Amendment 1, which would make several changes in how property taxes are assessed. She described the PowerPoint as "extremely factual" and said she would have been happy to share it with Armstrong had he contacted her. "I'm a little disappointed with Greg Armstrong for not picking up the phone," she said.

Fiorentino said she was unaware the complaint had been filed until a reporter asked her about it Tuesday night.

She said Wednesday afternoon that she still had not seen a copy of the complaint, though she was going to try to get a copy from the Elections Commission.

The PowerPoint twice says notes that the school district is not advocating a position on the amendment.

The presentation, though, says Pasco County schools would lose $67.5 million over the next five years if the amendment passes and that would effect the district's ability to maintain salaries, offer competitive benefits packages and keep pace with school construction.

Fiorentino said the $67.5 million figure is an estimate by the Florida Department of Education.

Armstrong maintained that the information is "designed to persuade school employees that they should vote 'no' or risk losing jobs." The complaint the Realtors filed with the Elections Commission argues that the use of school district e-mail to solicit votes violates Florida elections law.

Fiorentino disagreed there was any violation and cited a 1991 Florida Supreme Court ruling in a case in which an anti-tax group alleged that local governmental agencies in Leon County used public funds and public resources to mount an informational campaign in support of a tax referendum. The court found nothing wrong with that, saying "local governments are not bound to keep silent in the face of a controversial vote that will have profound consequences for the community."

"Leaders have both a duty and a right to say which course of action they think best, and to make fair use of their offices for this purpose," the ruling said.

Fiorentino's predecessor, John Long, also relied on that ruling when schools distributed information about the March 2004 Penny for Pasco referendum that raised the sales tax to help pay for school construction and renovations.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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